Blackout
by littlesheep
Summary: Summary: Finally Stella managed to convince Mac to go to bed – she just didn’t exactly plan for it to be hers… SMacked [StellaMac] COMPLETE now!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: General explanation about me and my writing as well as my disclaimer can be found in my profile. This is not the first story I wrote and it won't be the last. But it's my first CSI: NY release - I'm nervous... so please be nice to my first baby when you review ;-) Hope you enjoy reading as much as I did enjoy writing this!

Chapter 1

_beebeep beebeebeep beebeebeep_

_Crap!_

With her eyes closed, she rummaged for her cell phone on the nightstand. "Bonasera..." she mumbled peeved. "Mac..." She sighed silently and forced her left eye to open slightly to be able to peer at the display of her alarm clock. 2:45 am.

_Damn it... Does this man ever sleep?_

"Stella?!" the voice on the other end asked for the second time, now in a more requesting, impatient tone. She snapped back to reality.

"I'm with you!" she hurried to reply.

"Male victim found unconscious at Bedford Hotel, 118 East 40th Street, possible kidnapping, need you here asap!"

_Goodbye sweet dreams…_

She quickly calculated the time that it would take her to get there. The hotel was located between Park and Lexington Avenue, not too far from her place. She didn't need much time to get ready – shower, hair, clothes – usually she had everything prepared so that she was done within moments if necessary. And right now, she knew once again why.

"I'll be there in 20 minutes!" she quickly replied and hung up.

'_I'm sorry to wake you in the middle of the night, I know you're not even on call... – Ah, never mind... - Oh, and good morning Stella... – Yeah, good morning to you, too, Mac...'_ she grumbled to herself while she crept out of bed and headed towards the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, she was ready to leave.

When she arrived at the hotel, Mac was waiting for her in the lobby. "Sorry that I had to wake you up so early, but you live closest and the others are not..."

"Never mind." She wasn't exactly a morning person, waking up without alarm clock early in the morning would never happen to her, but if she had to get up early, she was awake and responsive within short time. And besides, being with him made it a little less annoying that she had to get out that early.

"You look a little..." Mac hesitated, slightly amused by her look. The outfit was classy as usual, but her eyes proved that she didn't have much sleep and her curls apparently didn't want to cooperate in the middle of the night. Instead of wearing her hair open, she now had it tied up in some sort of creative, chaotic knot with the one or other strain sticking out into all directions. Cute somehow... Stella noticed his investigative look on her appearance.

"Well, you kinda caught me in the middle of something…," she muttered sheepishly.

He blushed slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that... I mean, I didn't want to..." Why was he so shocked by her announcement? This couldn't be so unexpected...

"Sleep, Mac! I was sleeping." Mac's look slightly relaxed.

"Just me and Arkadios."

His eyes widened again. Stella chuckled, it hadn't been her first intention to put him through such a roller coaster of emotions, but now she started to have fun with it.

"That would be Greek - it means 'of Arcadia'," she started explaining. Mac gave her a puzzled look. "Arcadia was derived from the word 'arktos', meaning 'bear'," she continued, but still just got a confused look in return. Finally she rolled her eyes with a sigh. Hopeless...

"He's a teddy bear – so just relax, okay?" She shook her head with a smile, this was just too funny.

"Teddy bear???"

"Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional," Stella commented on his disbelieving look.

Mac still couldn't get his thoughts straight, even in the middle of the night, just dragged out of sleep, she was still able to confuse him like nobody else.

"Okay, what've we got here?" Stella pulled him out of his thoughts.

On the way up to the hotel room, he briefly filled her in with what he knew so far. A male Afro-American, age around 30, had been found unconscious in a room that he had rented for just this one night. It was a single room and according to the hotel manager and the doorman, the young man arrived alone and nobody asked for his room number. Still there seemed to be evidence for the presence of a second person. He hadn't been through the room yet, so far he had just taken some pictures of the victim before the paramedics took him to the hospital and briefly talked to the hotel employees while waiting for her.

"Any indication that the vic was a PI or something?" Mac asked over to Stella who was looking under the bed with her flashlight on the left side. "Hum?" she looked up and saw him holding up a pair of handcuffs when her look got caught by something at her side of the bed. She started giggling.

"Um, I don't wanna embarrass you... But I don't think those are for occupational purposes," she said while holding up a long scarf, tied to the corner of the headboard on her side.

Mac's eyes slightly widened in surprise, then he looked down between the nightstand and bed on his side. "Oh..." He held up another scarf. Stella pressed her lips together to avoid a laughter and nodded. "You know what this means?" she gave him a questioning look.

"He wasn't alone..." Mac confirmed.

Stella put both scarves on the bed, still tied to the headboard and took photos of them as well as from the rest of the room. Mac noticed her pensive look when she did her work.

"It's supposed to increase physical tension if you are exposed to someone's mercy like that, it's supposed to bring pleasure without being able to take an active part," he suddenly started explaining.

Stella looked at him in surprise, nearly dropping her camera.

"Well, the way the scarves are attached isn't exactly the best one..." she managed to say when she found her words again. "But how would YOU know about this?" she curiously asked.

"Oh, I just read about that in some magazine when I did some research on sexual practices and experiments..." he mumbled slightly embarrassed.

Stella's mouth dropped open even more than before.

"Research about... Mac Taylor! I'm surprised..."

"It was for a case! And it was a scientific paper about the functions of the human brain in extraordinary situations," he defended himself. "And by the way, did you just tell me THIS way of fixing the scarves would not be the best one? Care to explain how you would know about that?" he teased with a challenging look.

Stella returned his look, briefly reflecting whether to move on or to back out.

"It's more fun when you fix them in the middle instead of at both sides, so that the hands would be tied above your head. May 1992, educational weekend trip to Washington..." she replied openly.

"I take it you didn't get to see much of what you intended to...?" Mac chuckled. "Not quite, but it certainly was some sort of educational..." she grinned back.

"Back to the crime scene?" "Sure..." he mumbled. "Hey! YOU started this..." she exclaimed. "Yeah, but you went into details," he returned.

"I'm gonna bag the scarves, good chance that we find some epithelia on them," Stella announced while Mac was dusting the nightstand and the bed for fingerprints. "Right," he confirmed. "And it won't be his, he didn't have any abrasions at his wrists when they found him... We should also take the sheets and test them for foreign DNA at the lab."

Stella nodded, took out an evidence bag and carefully folded the scarves to put them in it. While she was standing at the sideboard next to the door, at the side of the room opposite the headboard of the bed, she suddenly noticed something. She put the paper bag with the scarves in her kit and kneeled down.

"Find something?" Mac asked. Instead of a reply, she reached for her kit and took out a swab and a little white plastic test box. Then she picked up something she saw on the carpet in the corner behind the sideboard, swabbed the sample into the little box and added some liquid.

"Positive for cocaine," she confirmed after a few seconds.

"I'll stop by at the hospital to check on our vic, meet you back at the lab," Mac said when they returned to their cars.

"Sure, I'll start working on the sheets and send samples over to DNA," Stella replied and got into her car. The clock at the display read 5:00 am. She yawned.

_Gotta go home – it's time to get up..._

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks a lot for your nice reviews – the most fun part is the creative one, the inspiration, collecting ideas and then the writing itself… But I have to admit, getting some good feedback makes it even better :-)

Author's note: Little addition to chapter one, forgot to put it in there – the basic idea for the case (just the general idea and the identity of the vic, everything else is fiction) came from an old "Cagney & Lacey" episode and the thing with the scarves is VERY loosely inspired by a scene in CSI (episode "Butterflied").

And a special THANKS goes to my friend Mitch in the US whom I convinced a while ago to get into CSI: NY (okay, Melina might have played a role in this as well gg) and who now does a little proof-reading for me before I publish.

Oh – and in case it's not clear anyway: Characters' thoughts are in _Italics_ and when there's something like xxxxx between paragraphs, that usually means a change of location or a "time shift".

I said previously that further details including my disclaimer would be found in my profile, but right now for some reason, I feel like particularly mentioning it again here – consider it a statement :-)

Disclaimer: All the original characters belong to their creators - except for Mac. Mac belongs to Stella - Period.

Now – enjoy and review please ;-)

Chapter 2

Two hours later, Mac entered the lab, spotting Stella leaning over the bed sheets that were spread over the table. He smiled silently, knowing that she had certainly started working on the evidence right after she had arrived from the crime scene without stopping for something like breakfast.

"Had any breakfast yet?" he asked while getting closer. "Coffee?"

Stella looked up, only noticing him when he was already looking over her shoulder.

"Huh?"

Mac shook his head, his lips pressed together to avoid a grin. "Follow me!" he ordered, gently leading her out of the lab into the break room. While he poured them two mugs of coffee, Stella took a seat at the table.

Without looking at her, he started telling her what he had learned from the doctors at the hospital when he suddenly noticed that her attention was somewhere else.

"... and the COD is..." he focused her, but she didn't show any reaction. "... spontaneous human combustion." Nothing.

"Uhum," she finally replied.

"Stella?" he carefully asked, looking down at her. "Hear anything I just told you??"

"Yeah, sure... combustion...," she mumbled, then suddenly snapped back to the present. "Combustion??? Why COD? I thought..."

"Ah good, at least a part of you is still with me...," he joked.

"Sorry, I was just thinking..."

"Figures. Here, get some coffee, that might help. And after that, I'm gonna take you out

for some breakfast."

xxxxx

When Mac returned to his office later, he found a note from Stella attached to his monitor.

_Meet me at my office, gotta show you something. S. Your pager is off…_

Mac immediately got the reproach behind the last comment. He reached for his pager and cursed silently. Damned battery… He took a new one out of his desk drawer and turned to leave when the phone started ringing. With a sigh, he went back to his desk and picked up.

"Taylor! John, how are you doing?" he asked the DA who usually just called him to put pressure on a case. Something he didn't like at all. And he was right.

"I was just working on the final report in the Miller case, I'll have the documents sent to your office before lunch. … No, we don't have any results on the Bedford case yet. Victim is still unconscious and without his consent, we can't do a drug test on him. Evidence is in trace and we're waiting for DNA results from the bed sheets. … You'll know when I know. … Sure, bye John."

He hung up with a sigh and grabbed for the folder with the Miller report.

xxxxx

About an hour later, Mac jumped up from his chair and headed over to Stella's office. She was sitting at her desk, head propped up on her left hand. She stared at the screen with her eyes half-closed, not even looking up when he stormed in.

"I'm so sorry, I totally forgot you..."

She gave him an surveying look. "You know... little by little I'm starting to take this personally," she teased.

"I talked to Flack about the Bedford case earlier and..." he started.

"What the hell does he think he's doing?!?" Mac's eyes widened in surprise from this unexpected outburst. "I told him I didn't want to give anything to the DA yet and instead of waiting, he comes running to you? That's really great! Why don't you handle the case together, so he won't have to cry for help behind my back…" she ranted.

"Whoa, easy…" Mac interrupted when Stella finally paused to take a breath. "I told him that you have the lead in this case and nothing would be done without your consent and that I would agree with anything you decide. He will follow your orders, he's waiting for your call as soon as you get any tests results or the victim wakes up."

Suddenly Stella became very quiet. "Hum. I feel like an idiot…" she mumbled.

Mac just smiled and nodded. "Good."

"Hey!! You didn't have to agree so quickly," she weakly protested with a sheepish grin.

"So, what am I actually here for?" he reminded her of the fact that she put the message to his monitor earlier.

"We got an ID on the victim, prints have been identified. Have a look at this…" she motioned to her computer screen.

Mac walked around her desk to look over her shoulder. After a moment of silence without a reaction, she peered over her left shoulder, following his gaze unperceived.

"Um… after you finished scanning my cleavage… would you mind giving me your opinion on this?" she teased him, pointing to the monitor again.

He winced slightly. "Huh?! I wasn't… I…"

"Ah, never mind," she blinked with a playful smile.

He quietly studied the screen. "Thomas Gordon Browning. He's a West Point cadet? That could make investigations a bit complicated. They are not exactly very communicative when it comes to one of their own… Where's the folder for the case?"

"Over there in the filing cabinet, bottom drawer, right side in the middle."

"I'll get it."

Mac walked around the desk to the filing cabinet on the left side of the office. He bent forward to search the bottom drawer for the requested file, then suddenly turned his head.

"Caught in the act?!" he grinned when he noticed Stella blushing and quickly pretending to be very busy with searching something on her desk.

"Hum?" she looked up as if she didn't know what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"You were just staring at my … backside," he dryly noticed, trying not to grin about Stella's attempt to wriggle herself out of the situation.

"I was not!" she claimed in feigned indignation. "I just wanted to see if you needed help finding the file and… Eh, damn it! So what? Even if I WAS checking you out…," she admitted reluctantly.

'_Quite nice btw ...'_ she mumbled barely audibly.

"…since you did the same with me before," she continued in normal volume, looking at him like a kid who was trying to make a deal with its parents about staying up 10 minutes longer, "… I think we are even now?"

He shook his head in disbelief, holding back a laugh. Just when he returned to the desk, the folder in his hands, his pager beeped.

"DNA…"

"Ah, so for her you switch the pager on, hum?" Stella raised her right eyebrow with a smirk.

"The battery was empty, I didn't notice until I got your message…" he tried to defend himself.

"Sure, whatever…" Stella chuckled, it was too easy to put him off his stride. "Well, we don't wanna keep her waiting, right?" she smiled, opening the door for him.

xxxxx

"Jane, you got something for us?" he asked moments later at the DNA lab.

"Yeah, got the results for the samples that Stella pulled from the sheets in your hotel case. Found female DNA on them – and traces of cocaine," the blonde DNA expert replied with a smile.

"Any further information?" Stella asked her.

"No match in CODIS, but what I can tell you, it's a white female and there were traces of sweat and vaginal fluids," Jane explained.

"What a surprise…" Stella mocked. "Okay, thanks Jane."

xxxxx

On the way back to the office, Stella's cell phone rang. "Bonasera… Yeah, thanks, I'll be right there," she flipped the phone shut again. "Flack. The victim recovered consciousness, I'll meet him at the hospital," she explained to Mac.

"Okay. Stella…?"

"Yeah? Yeah… I'll be nice, don't worry."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks again for the nice comments! Little comment to this chapter: I know the thing with the door is a bit … but think about Danny's situation in "Trapped". I just didn't want the classical 'trapped in an elevator' and even a snow storm wouldn't have kept them inside for long enough ;-)

Hope you enjoy this one as well – please read and review!

Chapter 3

"He denies that there was another person with him in the room at all," Stella finished her report on the interview with Thomas Browning at the hospital. "He claims that he's been there alone."

"Figures. And the scarves and fluids have been left by the previous inmates and have just been forgotten or missed by the cleaning crew?" Mac leaned back in his office chair.

"Maybe she was married? Or they had to keep it a secret because she was white? Or…"

"Well, his problems are bigger than being with a married woman or whatever," Mac answered.

"How's that?"

"They found a body in a side street, couple of blocks from the Bedford. DNA matches the samples that you collected from Browning's hotel room."

"Oh. Well, that … But he couldn't have killed and dumped her, he was unconscious – so what happened?"

"Might be an OD, we have to wait for autopsy results. Still that doesn't explain why she was at the hotel with him, why he was found unconscious and why he denies that she was there at all…"

Mac's cell phone started ringing. After a look at the display, he rolled his eyes. "Damn it! Portland again…"

"DA?" Stella wondered, anticipating nothing good.

"Taylor, hello John… Wait, you can't… We'll be right there." He put the phone back into his pocket.

"We got ourselves an appointment with the DA at his office," he announced.

"Joy…"

XXXXX

"I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good, either," Stella snapped. "If you insist on prosecuting based on the incomplete evidence we have so far, please. But I promise I will testify for the defense based on what I know so far. We have NO evidence that Browning has anything to do with the death of this woman, NO evidence that the cocaine we found was his, he has NO injection marks, NO marks of usage in his nose or throat, drug test of blood and urine came back negative, there wasn't even trace of cocaine on his hands or clothes. On what do you wanna base your prosecution? Being with the victim hours before she died? Having sex with her? As far as I remember, that's not illegal – not even in New York."

DA John Portland looked over to Mac, waiting for a sign to intervene, but Mac didn't show the slightest intention to him. Of course he was the boss, but he knew well enough that nothing would stop Stella in this mood. And besides, she was right.

Finally Portland sighed. "Okay, you win. I have two other cases ready to go to court and since the guy will stay at the hospital for a couple of days, this one won't run away. I'll place a cop in front of his door, just to make sure he stays where he is. I expect to hear from you at the beginning of next week." With that, he went out without waiting for a reaction.

Stella turned to Mac with a grin. "Was it as good for you as it was for me?"

XXXXX

"So, any plans?" Stella asked while they drove back to the lab.

"Plans for what?"

"Today, this evening, the weekend… - time to go home, time for some life you know…" she replied.

"I got paperwork waiting on my desk…"

"Working hours are for everyone INCLUDING you. There is a reason that they are limited to less than 24 hours a day... You need to get some sleep, Mac! If you start with paperwork now, I'm most likely gonna find you at your desk Monday morning because you never left the building by then…"

Sometimes she was seriously concerned about him.

"What about your plans for the weekend?" he asked instead of replying.

"I'm gonna renovate my apartment, living room and hallway. You know, some new paint and so on. Time for a little change." He became quiet for a moment.

"Need any help?"

Stella looked over in surprise, his eyes were focused on the street again. "You wanna help me paint my walls?" she inquired.

"Paint walls, move furniture, whatever you need me to do… That is – unless you already have help?"

"No, no. Well, sure, why not? That would be great, thanks for your offer! Um – on ONE condition…"

"That would be?"

"No paperwork today, you go home and get some sleep!"

Mac gave her a resigning smile. "Yes, Ma'am!"

XXXXX

Mac arrived at Stella's apartment in the early afternoon the next day, exactly on time as usual. Stella smiled at him when he handed her a bottle of wine while she let him in.

"Thanks, I think I put that away for the moment, who knows what the apartment looks like if we start drinking first…" she joked. He looked tired, she was sure that if he got any sleep at all last night, it certainly hadn't been enough yet.

She had already taken everything from the walls and moved the lighter pieces of furniture. With Mac's help, they now moved the heavier items to the middle of the room and covered everything with large plastic sheets to protect it from dust and paint spatter. Then they started scraping the wallpaper off, each of them working on one side of the room, while the radio was playing.

"Okay…" Stella declared after ripping the last frazzle of paper from the wall, "I think now it's time for the more interesting part – did you ever RE-decorate a room?"

"Not really," Mac admitted with a grin, "but it can't be that difficult. You put paste on the wallpaper and stick it to the wall…"

"…and hope it stays there…" Stella added a little doubtful.

"Well, I know that you need to let the paste soak into the paper for a moment to make sure there's enough on it, so let's just start preparing some sheets – and then we see."

"M-hm."

They continued working concentrated and much to their own surprise, things went really good and they made good progress.

"Phew – done!"

Stella dropped the brush into the paste bucket with a heavy sigh. Mac finished smoothing the last piece of wallpaper and went over to her. They looked around in the newly decorated room.

"We're a pretty good team, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, if there are no more crimes to solve, we're gonna open a business as decorators together," he grinned.

"Over my dead body," she replied quickly. "My arms are killing me…"

"Wanna order something to eat?" he asked, certain that neither of them was in the mood for cooking now.

"Yeah, good idea."

XXXXX

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang. Mac answered the door, paid for the food and took it back to the kitchen where Stella had placed some plates on the counter since the living room was a total mess.

Suddenly the lights went out.

"Great, I love New York in summer... 100 degrees outside even in the evenings, too much for the good old mains… But who needs climate control anyway?" Stella remarked and went to check for the fuse box, when she realized after a look out of the window that there were no lights on in the entire surrounding – and that was more than unusual, even for a late summer afternoon.

_Uh-oh..._

Then she suddenly remembered another problem.

_This is NOT good…_

"What's the matter, couldn't find the switch?" Mac teased when she returned to the living room.

"Got good news – and bad news…"

"Good news first!"

"Okay – this apartment has an electronic security lock – we are safe in here."

"I see. And the bad news?"

"This apartment has an electronic security lock – and … the manual override has been broken since yesterday …"

"That means… ?"

"That means in case of a power outage, since you can't open the door manually at the moment, it prevents any opening – from inside AND outside."

"Oh."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Okay guys, thanks **SO** much for all your nice reviews - I'm flattered ;-) I think for this, you deserve a faster updating - so here we go with the next chapter. Besides, I have so much stuff in the backlog that I have to increase updating speed a bit since I'm working on a Christmas story - which IMHO should be posted around ... Christmas ;-)

Hope you like this one - please read and review, thanks :-)

Chapter 4

"Yeah well, the date for repair is on Monday..."

"Fine, and we have Saturday..." Mac paused. "That means we are trapped in here for ... let me calculate ... about two days if power doesn't come back on its own?"

Stella nodded. "That's IF power comes back. That's the security factor with this lock – it makes sure that nobody intentionally short-circuits it to break in… The only way to open it would be by this manual override, which as I said is not working, or by using some special software, they have to log in via laptop from outside of the apartment and put in a master code via remote access – but not on weekends…"

"I see. Just wanted to make sure..."

"And two nights..." she picked up his prior thread about the time calculation.

"Didn't wanna mention that in the first place," he mimicked a smile. "And no other way to have somebody open it from the outside?" he carefully asked, trying not to sound too nervous.

"Sure. We could call for emergency help and they could break the door into pieces, but I'm not sure if that would be appropriate…"

"Maybe not," Mac weakly agreed.

"So... What are we going to do now?" She looked around as if searching for an answer in the chaotic living room, then back at him.

"Dinner? Food is getting cold..."

"Okay, good plan."

"Lucky enough I went shopping yesterday since I planned to renovate the whole weekend. The fridge has an emergency power unit, it should keep the stuff fresh until power comes back, can't take forever… You won't have to starve," she grinned.

_That's the LAST thing I'm worried about right now..._

XXXXX

After dinner, they decided to go on working while there was still a little light coming in from outside. TV or anything else wouldn't work without power anyway. Just when Stella started tearing down some more wallpaper in the hallway, her cell phone started ringing.

"Not now…" she sighed and wiped her hands in her old jeans. "Bonasera?" Her eyes slightly widened as she gesticulated towards Mac who poked his head through the kitchen door to remain silent. "Danny! Hi… What is it?" Mac quickly disappeared again.

"Sorry to interrupt your free weekend, but we need you out here," Danny answered.

"That won't really work, I'm trapped in my apartment, the alarm system locked the door due to the power outage and I can't get anyone coming up here on short notice to fix it."

"Geez, all hell has broken loose out here – and we can't seem to get in touch with Mac either…"

"MAC?" Stella asked out loud to give him a sign. "Hum, maybe he turned his cell phone off?" she continued while shooting a questioning look towards the matter of their conversation.

Mac grabbed his phone and shrugged after a look at the display. Then he gave her a sign that he switched the phone on.

"I'm sure he will turn it on again soon, just keep trying…" Stella told Danny after Mac had disappeared again.

"Great… So, what are you doin' in there now?"

"Trying to renovate my living room and the hallway, but working hours will be cut now – it would be a bit complicated to redecorate the walls by candlelight," she joked.

"Yeah, well, have fun. Talk to ya later…"

"Alright, bye Danny."

"That was close… What if they keep calling all the time now?" Stella asked Mac who had joined her in the hallway after she had ended the call. Before he got a chance to reply, his phone went off.

"I guess we'll find out sooner than we want… It's Lindsay."

"Oh great…" Stella grumbled. "I'm in the kitchen… I feel like Alf!"

XXXXX

After a second call a while later, Lindsay turned to Danny. "You think Mac has a girlfriend?" The folder he was just studying dropped onto the table.

"Mac? Never."

"Why's that? He's a man..."

"Yeah, I noticed. But Mac and a woman?" he started to work on that thought. "Can't really think of that... You know, since..."

"Yeah, I heard about his wife. Maybe he finally figured it's time to move on with life?"

Danny shook his head. "Nah... Can't imagine that seriously..."

"Hum…"

XXXXX

"I'm gonna call Stella again, I need some information…" Danny said a while later.

"Okay, I'll give Mac another call, ask him about the emergency generator, nobody seems to know exactly how long this thing works and how much it can handle. Maybe we can work normally for at least a while if we can get it started…" Lindsay replied.

XXXXX

"That's strange..." Lindsay said to Danny after she ended the call.

"What?" he replied absentmindedly, still surprised by what just happened, trying to sort it out in his mind.

"Mac was whispering the whole time when we just spoke, as if he wanted to avoid someone hearing the conversation..."

Danny nodded. "Yeah… that would be me."

Lindsay raised her eyebrows. "YOU?!?"

"You never gonna believe this – Mac is with Stella! I just heard his phone ringing in the background when I talked to her. Then it stopped, that was when he started talking to you."

"How do you know it was his phone, could be anyone..." Lindsay objected. "…and you said Stella was trapped in her apartment."

"This was clearly Mac's ring tone..." They both sat down and looked at each other.

"Anyone could have that ring tone..."

"Hey! Let's trace Mac's cell phone, then we'll know for sure," Danny suddenly jumped up.

Lindsay followed him reluctantly to the nearly dark computer room. Only one computer was turned on to save power. "Didn't you say Stella lives on Lexington Avenue?" she asked a few moments later after having entered Mac's number and hitting a few keys.

"Yeah...?!"

"That's the address I got here..." she whispered.

"Sure you traced Mac's number, not Stella's?" She shot him a look. "Okay, okay, sorry. Know what that means?"

"Mac IS at Stella's place..." Lindsay slowly said. Danny gave her a pensive look.

"We can play with that..." he said with a suggestive grin.

"What do you have in mind, Messer?"

"Dunno yet... Let's just have some fun. Call them, keep them busy with trying to avoid us noticing the other one in the background…"

Lindsay shook her head, but smiled about the idea. She called Stella to ask her if she knew about Mac's whereabouts.

XXXXX

"How am I supposed to know where Mac is? Didn't he mention he would be out of town for the weekend? I think he was going to ... " Stella asked a bit louder so that Mac could notice in the neighboring room. She knew Lindsay had already talked to Mac several times, but of course she couldn't ask her why she didn't ask him herself where he was since she wasn't supposed to know about those calls…

Mac looked through the open door, mouthing something that she interpreted as "Jersey". She nodded with a smile. "... Jersey" she finished the sentence. "And the tunnel is closed now, so he can't come back anyway."

Some time and a couple of calls later, Stella turned to Mac after just having ended another call from Danny.

"What are we gonna do if they keep calling nonstop? This is getting complicated…" she asked, being interrupted by his cell phone. After a look at the display, he sighed.

"Guess we're gonna find out soon. It's Lindsay…"

"Hey, be positive…" Stella joked on her way to the bathroom. "Their shift should end soon, maybe we get some rest then."

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews once again :-) Trapped yourself? Urghs, luckily that never happened to me so far… About the cell phones – would be boring if they just run out of power, wouldn't it? Takes away a lot of fun here – besides, Mac would never leave the house without a fully charged phone (he's too professional for that) and it should run for the time here with only a few calls made ;-)

Author's note: For the non-Americans here – 86 degrees F would be about 30 C.

This chapter (and the next ones) feature the song _"Never Gonna Be The Same Again"_ by Bob Dylan. You don't have to know the song, I didn't know it at first when I picked it for the lyrics only. But I have to admit it has a certain something when you listen to it more often – and it fits just so perfectly especially at the end of this chapter.

About this chapter: I had SO much fun writing this :-))) Hope you have the same when you read it.

Chapter 5

"For the moment, I would say we should try to get some sleep, hum? It's getting dark outside and we can't make much progress in here in the dark, I think I'd prefer to see where I put the wallpaper and paint…"

Mac just mumbled something incomprehensible. There was no way to sleep on the couch since they moved all furniture to the middle of the living room, arranged in a pile, covered with plastic sheets.

"Well, my bed is pretty big..." Stella remarked as she noticed his look.

"You don't have to share your bed with me, that would be a bit awkward, hum?" Mac quickly cut her off, not quite sure if he wanted to help her out of the conflict to offer him a place there as a good hostess versus the fact that she didn't want him so close or if it was rather the fact that HE would feel uncomfortable with the thought of lying next to her.

She smirked. "What I actually wanted to say is that my bed is big enough for two, but I'm not a girl for one night!"

She looked over to him, afraid that she just caused his heart to stop. She knew it was a sensitive topic and she wasn't sure if he was up for jokes about it. Much to her surprise, he smiled back with an amused twinkle in his eyes about her latest statement.

"Well, I'm relieved to hear that…"

_HUH??? What's that supposed to mean?_

Now it was her heart that skipped a few beats. She looked at him for a second, her mouth slightly open, then she quickly inhaled and gulped.

"So, um... left side or right side?" she asked with a smile while shaking her head slightly to get over his surprising reaction. She decided to play along – in case this was a game.

_And if not? _Stella shook her head again. _Nah, not Mac... He wouldn't go forward like this so out of the blue, _she tried to convince herself.

"Up to you," he courteously replied. "I'm the guest."

"Yeah, right..." she murmured. "You can have that side, I usually sleep in the middle, so I don't mind," she explained.

"Middle?" he wondered. "Ah right, I remember: 'No men at my place' – right? You're breaking your rules here...," he teased with raised eyebrows.

"Mmm... this is different...," she weakly objected, knowing that he was somehow right, but feeling that for some yet unknown reason that this was indeed different.

Of course, Mac was a man – no doubt about that. But he was a good friend, she trusted him more than anyone else. And besides, the reason why she wouldn't invite "men" – meaning someone she would date – to her apartment, was that she had the feeling she needed it as a safe place in case something would go wrong and she wanted to end things. In that case, she didn't want them to know where to find her. Mac, besides being a friend, also was the head of the team and as such knew her address anyway.

_Whom am I kidding here? Could it be that there is a SMALL difference between having him in the apartment - after all he had been here quite often for breakfast, dinner or other occasions - and offering him a place in your BED? Well, this is an extraordinary situation of course... No way to get out of the apartment, no alternative inside..._

"Stella!?" Mac asked for the fourth time, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"What?!? Sorry! I was just..."

"Somewhere else, figures," he remarked. "You alright?"

"Sure, this will be just like a summer camp," she pretended a joyful smile.

He raised his eyebrows again, remembering his summer camp experiences from many years ago. And he was pretty sure that this was not what she had in mind...

"You wanna go to the bathroom first?"

"Nah, just go ahead," he replied.

Stella nodded and disappeared in the bathroom, taking a quick shower while thinking about the situation while Mac did the same in the living room. After a while, she showed up again, dressed in a short nightgown, her wet hair twisted to a bun on her head. He couldn't help an acknowledging smile.

"Your turn...," she smiled. "I put some towels on the edge of the bathtub for you!" she called after him.

XXXXX

Ten minutes later, he came back to the bedroom, dressed in his shirt and jeans again, looking a little uncertain.

"Everything okay?" Stella asked.

"Sure, yeah... I was just making sure that you didn't have any scarves or such attached to your bed," he tried to joke. She shook her head in feigned indignation and faked a smile, being about as nervous as him.

"Mac! Not on the first date…" she exclaimed. "You don't wanna ... um, take off your pants, I mean...," she struggled, trying to sound noncommittal. Although asking him to undress before coming into her bed seemed more than a just a little awkward.

"I can sleep in my clothes, no problem," he replied.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mac," she returned. "It's still more than 86 degrees outside, how do I explain that you got steamed here when they find your body in my bed in the morning?"

He looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, sure. But..."

Stella sighed, this was difficult. "Geez, Mac... We are both adults, right?" she stated in an emphatic neutral tone. Mac's thoughts went on a rollercoaster.

_That's exactly the problem... Both adults – and she tells me to take off my clothes and sleep in her bed... Well, not exactly, but nevertheless, the result would be the same, wouldn't it?_

"Mac, please! Don't be so ridiculous…" she repeated. "There's nothing wrong with this, we are friends, right?"

_Yeah, 'friends'... But do 'friends' have to sleep in ONE bed?_

He was getting hot and cold after Stella told him to sleep in the same bed with her. But as usual, she didn't stop. She could be really stubborn and didn't want to go to bed before having her way. And as also usual, he finally gave up.

XXXXX

"Well, at least you're finally in bed," she said a while later, referring to the discussion they had the day before.

"Yeah, that's right… but you don't really believe I'll be able to sleep, do you?" he smiled.

She looked at him from the side, meanwhile she wasn't sure about anything anymore. Was he just joking, was he teasing her, was he serious?

Stella found herself a comfortable position on her side of the bed, while Mac was lying on his back, occasionally peering over to his right, trying to keep as much distance as possible between them. He tried to lie there motionless, although he realized that there was nothing he'd love to do better than taking her in his arms. At a certain point, he was so tired that his eyes finally fell shut.

XXXXX

When he woke up again, he was paralyzed. Stella's head was resting on his chest, her right leg coiled around his right one and his arms tightly wrapped around her body.

_Oh my God… How did this happen? What am I gonna do to get out of this before she wakes up?_

Mac nearly panicked and tried to pull his leg away without waking her up.

"Mmmmh…."

Stella murmured. She wanted to stretch her arms and legs when she noticed that this attempt was blocked by something. She opened her eyes and looked directly into Mac's face. A warm shiver ran down her spine. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be fast asleep. As carefully as possible and with more than just a little regret, she pulled her leg back and slowly rolled over to her side of the bed again.

_Just good that he didn't notice anything… Boy! THAT would make things REALLY awkward, _she thought before falling back to sleep.

_That was close… _Mac very slowly released the breath he had held for as it seemed to him minutes. After a long time, he managed to fall into a restless sleep.

_Now you're here beside me, baby  
You're a living dream  
And every time you get this close  
It makes me wanna scream  
_

_You touched me and you knew that I  
Was warm for you and then  
_

_I ain't never gonna be the same again_

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks again everyone, you are great :-) Why "poor Mac"??? Okay, I'd rather be in Stella's position than his, but… ;-) Um – and yes, I CAN keep you hanging "ggg" And last but not least: If that made you laugh, wait for this next one… - I mean can you picture Mac in old jeans and rolled up sleeves, paint everywhere…

If you finished laughing and are still able to focus – please read and review, thanks!

Special thanks from me (and you if you like it) again to my friend Mitch who convinced me after he read chapter five that I couldn't end the story with only one more chapter. So you basically get nearly all of this chapter and a part of the next (which will be the final one) only thanks to him, otherwise you would have missed mostly everything in this chapter.

XXXXX

Chapter 6

Stella woke up from a yummy scent that reached her nose.

_Pancakes?_

She yawned, stretched and rubbed her eyes. After a look to her left side, she found the bed empty. She looked at the clock.

_6 am - on a Sunday..._

She rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smile.

"Mac?" she called, finding the shirt he wore the other day neatly folded at the bottom end of the bed. She smiled to herself. Since he didn't reply, she made her way to the kitchen, following the delicious scent of fresh pancakes.

"Mac?" she called again.

He looked up from the stove, wearing only his jeans. Slightly blushing, his eyes frantically darted around. Apparently he hadn't expected her to wake up this early.

"Stella, sorry…," he apologized sheepishly while putting on the shirt that he finally remembered in the bedroom.

"The power is back on…" he announced when he returned, just because he couldn't think of anything else to say.

Stella snapped back to reality, temporarily distracted by the image of a shirtless Mac.

"Yeah, um… great…"

XXXXX

Some minutes later, they were sitting at the kitchen counter, enjoying the delicious pancakes Mac had prepared for them.

"Would you hand me the maple syrup?" he pulled her out of her thoughts.

Absentmindedly she grabbed for the bottle and gave it to him. She still wasn't sure what had happened the night before, but she knew it would change their relationship completely and forever. Yet they still managed some meaningless small talk throughout the breakfast, nobody would have suspected anything between them being different from before.

"Here we go…" Stella announced after they had finished washing up the dishes. "In the mood to continue some more work?"

"Yeah, let's get started," Mac replied quickly, relieved that it would keep them busy for a while without focusing on a more profound conversation.

They continued their work in the living room. For this day, painting the new wallpapers and finishing the hallway was the plan. Both worked in silence, just occasionally taking a glimpse of the other.

Stella could feel his eyes on her as he was painting on the other side of the room. She noticed very well that he looked over much more often than he needed to and that he did not just do it to check if she would need any help. She knew he wanted her, the only question now was whether his desire was enough for him to come forward. And as much as she wanted him, she wasn't willing to risk their friendship by pushing him into something he wasn't prepared for yet.

Mac's mind started wandering back to the previous night as he was painting. And the next one that would inevitably follow… He was man who liked challenges and Stella was certainly one of these challenges. It was more than worth a try, but how big was the risk of ruining everything they had if she didn't feel the same way?

The sound of his cell phone pulled him out of his thoughts.

"They are in early today," he mocked. Stella mouthed a brief 'not again' before she silently continued working at the other side of the room.

"What? … Yeah, I see. … Look, I can't come in today, I have – plans that I can't change for the day," Mac started explaining. Stella grinned about his struggle when he had to lie while he had a witness.

"Okay, listen. I don't have a computer with me right now, I'll have Stella do some research on the case so that we have something ready for Monday morning. … Yeah, bye Danny," he hung up with a sigh.

"You have ME doing some research?" Stella gave him a challenging look.

"Yeah, what? I have my phone, you have yours. They know that, I could just call you, right?"

XXXXX

At the lab, Danny plopped on the next available chair, holding his sides.

"What???" Lindsay urged him to let her know.

"Mac will contact Stella to do some research on the case," he snorted with laughter. "I wonder how much effort that will take him… This is so cool!"

Lindsay started to giggle as well. Even though she considered Danny's behavior as more or less immature, she had to agree that it contained a certain amount of entertainment.

XXXXX

"Alright, we need to split work a bit," Mac told Stella. "Portland wants to have results tomorrow morning by 11 a.m. and we won't have enough time to get out of here, get to the lab, work on the case, prepare everything and then get it to him. Can you just see if you can find anything that may help us, you got your laptop here, right?"

"Sure I do. But all I can do here is some general searches on the internet, I don't have any access to specific data bases or anything like that from here…"

"We gotta work with what we have. I'll go on with painting in the meantime, let me know if you find something interesting."

Stella went over to her laptop which she had placed on the desk in her bedroom and started searching for information on the West Point Academy and other things she thought could be interesting for the case. After a while she got so involved in her work that she completely forgot about Mac working next door.

"Damn it!"

She looked up in surprise. What was going on there? After some more curses, her curiosity caused her to interrupt her research and instead check up on Mac. She found him standing next to the ladder, his pants, the ladder and the paper-covered floor around him covered with paint spatter. He reproachfully looked down into the bucket, his hands allover covered with paint, still cursing.

Stella approached him silently from the right side and looked down into the bucket where she spotted the paint brush that had apparently dropped down and caused all this mess.

She tried to suppress a laugh.

"It can't hear you, Mac…"

Before he could answer, his cell phone went off again. "Oh great…" he groaned with a look at his paint-covered hands.

"Wait a second," Stella grabbed for the phone attached to his belt. Before he could protest, she flipped it open and held it against his ear, giving him a little push. Mac froze for a second. He knew it would be either Danny or Lindsay on the phone and having Stella standing so close to him, holding the phone for him while breathing against his neck wasn't exactly helping him to relax.

"Is it just me or does something smell suspicious here?" Stella wondered while she put the phone back to Mac's belt after he had ended the call. "No, not here! I'm talking about this phone terror… What is it with them that they have to call all the time?"

Suddenly both at the same time realized something.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Mac asked to make sure they were on the same track.

"A trace?"

"They must have traced my cell phone and now they are playing with us… What are we gonna tell them? How do we explain this?" he looked around to explain the problem.

"Nothing and since when do we have to explain anything to them anyway? It's none of their business, whatever is going on – or not going on for that matter – here between us. Right?"

Mac hesitantly nodded. The thought of returning to the lab the next day with their colleagues knowing they spent the whole weekend – and the nights – together, even though nothing really happened and the whole thing was purely accidental… He could vividly imagine the whispering behind their backs, the looks, the giggling…

"Let's just finish this here for now, otherwise we're gonna be busy the whole night," Stella reminded him.

XXXXX

"Well… Guess that's it!" Stella brushed off her hands in her jeans and took a satisfied glance at the newly decorated living room and hallway with all the furniture back at its place. "Think we did a great job, hum?"

"We sure did," Mac confirmed. Despite all the disturbances from calls and other distractions, the result was more than acceptable. And he had to admit it had been a lot of fun.

"You deserve something special, I wouldn't have been able to do all this so quickly and so well without you," Stella announced. "I'm gonna make you some special dinner, make yourself comfortable – the living room is habitable again," she smiled and went to the kitchen.

"Can I help you somehow?" Mac called after her.

"No, now you're just gonna be the guest, you helped so much already. Let me just please you now."

His heart did a short jump on her words and he was pretty glad that she wasn't in the same room.

XXXXX

For the first time they had dinner in the living room again, just like many times before when Stella had invited him for a meal or to talk about work in private. Still the atmosphere now was different after all that had happened – Mac had the feeling that these rooms had become a part of him. More than ever he felt comfortable and at home here.

"Wanna watch some TV?" Stella asked after they had finished the dish washing together.

"Sure, why not. Way too early to sleep anyway…" Mac answered, instantaneously being reminded of 'the other problem'. Luckily Stella didn't notice anything, she was searching for the remote and the TV guide.

"Ah, there you go. Okay, let's see…" she browsed the paper. "What about 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'?"

"Quiz show? Sure, why not…" Mac agreed.

"Deal," she nodded and turned on the TV. On her way to the couch she stopped. "Hey, we still got that wine bottle you brought over. I'll get it now…" Mac sent a quick glance to the ceiling. Wine was the last thing he considered a good idea at the moment.

When Stella returned with the bottle and two glasses, he tried to refuse. "Not for me, thanks. I'm not much of a drinker… A beer every now and then maybe, but …"

"Come on, Mac? Just this once! We have to celebrate our successful project," Stella complained.

"By getting drunk?" he tried to joke.

"You don't get drunk from one or two glasses …" she objected.

"Yeah? Just like you at the last Christmas party, huh?" Mac gave her a provoking glance.

Stella briefly sniffed and raised one eyebrow. "Okay… You got a point. But I was NOT drunk, just a little tipsy maybe. And it was champagne, not wine – that's different anyway. At least have a glass with me now, to be on the safe side..."

"How's that?"

"IF I get drunk, I don't want you to remember what I did afterwards," she grinned while filling his glass.

"Okay…" he finally agreed in an emphatic neutral tone, the husky edge in his voice betraying him.

XXXXX

Stella hadn't been able to stop thinking about how good it felt to be in his arms all day. When she woke up the second night and watched him sleep next to her, she fought with herself. After some thinking, she moved closer. She could feel him tense up, but continued to snuggle up to him until she noticed that he slightly relaxed.

"Hey…" she smiled at him with sleepy eyes, letting him know she was awake.

"Stella, I'm sorry about this… I didn't mean… I didn't want to… I …." he stammered, unable to move. She pressed her right index finger on his lips.

"Shshsh… Is this so horrible for you?" she asked him more seriously now. He shook his head, his lips pressed together. She felt that this could be the perfect moment – this was like 'now or never'.

"So then, do you find this unpleasant?"

He shook his head again, unable to say a word.

"Do you feel comfortable like this?"

He nodded slowly.

"And would you like to keep it going on like this?" she asked a last question to be sure she was right.

Another slight nod was the answer. This was all she needed to know.

"Ok, then what's the problem, Mac?"

"Stella…" he started with a deep sigh, "I … I'm not sure if I … I mean, if you … I wanted to say, if we … I don't wanna push you …"

She rolled her eyes and put her finger on his mouth again. "I'm basically lying on top of you, how can I possibly feel pushed? Can't you just stop it and kiss me, you little chump?"

_Sorry if I hurt you, baby  
Sorry if I did  
Sorry if I touched the place  
Where your secrets are hid  
_

She removed her finger and closed his lips with a kiss before he had a chance to resist. Within moments she felt his worries melt away and he responded passionately to her efforts. She inwardly sighed in relief, after all she hadn't been sure at all if moving forward on him like this would be the right step to take. If anyone got pushed, she knew for sure it wasn't her. Now she didn't doubt any longer. She knew she did the right thing when she curled up in his arms to get back to sleep moments later.

Mac lay awake for a while, watching her sleep next to him, before he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep with a smile on his lips.

_But you meant more than everything  
And I could not pretend  
_

_I ain't never gonna be the same again_

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, here we go – this is the final chapter for this one. Thanks so much again to everyone who read and reviewed so far (and to those who might do this in future), I really appreciate that :-) !!!

Yeah, Danny is a little kid in his mind ;-)) And yes, the verses in _italics_ are a song – I mentioned that somewhere, guess in chapter 5 (?) – it's _Never Gonna Be The Same Again by Bob Dylan._

One last time for this one – please read and review! I have another one ready (that will be posted later), one is currently being tested by my guinea pig (um, test reader g) and will be started next week, it's gonna be a Christmas story. Watch out for that ;-)

Chapter 7

"You can shower first, today it's my turn to make breakfast," Stella gave him a quick kiss on his lips before she made her way to the kitchen. Mac leaned back with his eyes closed for a moment and took a deep breath. Apparently he didn't dream last night - this was really happening…

He shook his head and got up.

XXXXX

"There is something wrong about this case… We are missing something, it's right in front of us and I can't get it," Stella brooded over her coffee mug while Mac was watching the morning news on TV.

"What is it?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't say we are missing it… I don't know, there is evidence for the woman in the hotel room, yet Browning still denies presence of another person. Maybe he… THAT'S IT!" Mac looked up in surprise.

"I need to go back to the hotel and talk to the hotel manager again! Um, once we get out of here," she said, remembering that they were still trapped.

The doorbell interrupted them.

"I'll get it!" Stella jumped up and went to the door. "Hello?" she asked after a look through the spy hole.

"Miss Bonasera?"

"Yeah, in here…" she returned.

"Mick Foster, Accurate Securities. We are here about the broken security system in your door – may I open it now?"

"That would be highly appreciated," Stella laughed.

XXXXX

"Hey, Mac!" Lindsay greeted him when he stepped out of the elevator.

Danny couldn't help a broad grin. "How was your weekend? Did you see Stella today?"

Mac's eyes slightly narrowed. He knew what Danny was alluding to, but he decided not to play along for the moment.

"She's talking to the hotel manager again, we'll meet at the DA's office later," he replied noncommittally and turned around to continue his way to his office.

"Mac?" Danny called after him.

"What?"

"You still got some paint in your hair…" Danny chuckled.

Mac's eyes slightly widened. Damn it, why wasn't Stella here now? He knew she could handle such situations way better than him. Too late for backing out and since they had suspected a trace the others most likely knew he was at the apartment the whole time anyway. What should he do now? Try to explain? At least to protect Stella's reputation, right? Not to compromise her when the others thought that …

"Nothing happened. It's just that … and besides, I don't think this is any of your business," he tried to defend himself by playing the boss card.

"Don't bother, Mac," Lindsay jumped in. "Stella renovated her apartment, you offered to help her and then you both got locked up and you had to stay overnight. Nothing wrong with that, can just happen, right? Murphy…"

Mac thankfully glanced over to her. "Yeah, like that…" he mumbled.

_Although not everything went wrong…_

XXXXX

When Stella entered the break room later in the afternoon, she found Danny and Lindsay involved in an excited discussion.

"Stella, what do you think about getting a tattoo?" Danny turned to her, not seriously expecting an honest answer.

"Who says I would have to think about it?" she replied spontaneously.

"Get out!!" he exclaimed, totally surprised. "You HAVE one?!? What kind? And where??"

In that moment, Mac entered the room. "Where what?"

"Stella has a tattoo!"

"So..." Mac replied, trying to sound as neutral and noninvolved as possible while he turned to the coffee machine.

"And I just asked her where…" Danny added.

Mac focused on putting fresh coffee powder into the filter crumb by crumb.

"Well, if she wanted everyone to see it, it would be at a visible place, right?" Danny gave him a suspicious look, then his eyes widened.

"You KNOW where?!? It's obviously not visible for everyone even with low-cut clothes, that means … Nothing happened, huh?" he smirked.

"Watch your mouth, Messer!" Stella interjected with a warning tone in her voice while she approached him, trying to help Mac.

"Hmm… Something smells like coconut in here," Danny immediately changed the topic. He was working with Stella long enough to know when it was time to stop.

"Coconut?" Mac wondered, momentarily confused about the previous discussion and the sudden change.

"Yeah, that would be me – coconut shampoo… Like it?" Stella gave him a playful smile which he returned with a little grin. Always good for a little surprise.

"Coconut? That's cool..." Lindsay said.

"Yeah, I like these natural scents. I have hair shampoo with coconut, shower foam with milk and honey and body lotion with maple syrup scent," Stella explained.

"That would explain why Mac's always lookin' at ya with those hungry eyes..." Danny philosophized.

"Messer, you are a smurf!" Lindsay exclaimed while Mac slightly blushed. Stella narrowed her eyes.

"If you choke a smurf, what color does it turn?"

"Hmm... don't know... wanna try it?" Lindsay asked, expectantly looking over to Danny, who quickly hurried out of the door, mumbling a barely audible "That was more than Murphy…".

Stella turned to Mac again.

"Anyway, good that you're here, Mac. I did some research on the West Point Academy and its statutes. It is okay for a cadet to have a relationship and as far as I know, it doesn't forbid any contact between different races or religions or anything and we know the victim wasn't married, so he wouldn't have violated any rule there. We know though that Browning's grandfather who raised him is a man of principle and wouldn't have accepted this relationship since she was a former junkie. Browning knew that, so he kept it a secret to avoid disappointing his grandfather and met her in hotels. That's why he lied about her being there," Stella explained. "He didn't want his grandpa to find out. What we missed was that it was that his room was a single room and THAT would have been a violation of the West Point Honor System!"

"What?" Mac was still confused.

"A cadet shall never steal, cheat or lie," she replied patiently.

"Yeah, I know about that, but how…"

"He rented a single room, he had company there. Sleeping with two people in a room that's only rented for one would be like stealing. When I talked to the hotel manager, he told me that Browning had reserved a double room but due to a booking mistake, they only had a single room free when he arrived. Browning accepted, but insisted on paying the price for the room he had reserved. He paid for two people, even though he stayed in a single room, this way he could secretly smuggle his girlfriend in so that nobody would notice, but still wouldn't violate any rules," Stella triumphantly finished her conclusions.

"So he didn't keep it a secret because he killed her or had anything to do with the drugs you found, he just wanted to keep it a secret from his grandfather and would have gone rather to prison than to disappoint him or the Academy…" Mac stated.

"A real soldier," Stella agreed. "And we know also, that the girl died from an OD, so: Case closed! Hungry?"

He nodded with a playful smile. "U-huh…"

She rolled her eyes in desperation and sighed. "I was talking about dinner…"

XXXXX

Stella snuggled up to Mac on the couch when they started watching TV after dinner. He gently put his left arm around her shoulders and let her put her head against his chest.

When the movie was coming to its end, Mac's heart started beating faster. He wasn't sure what to do next, all he knew was he didn't really want to leave yet. He carefully turned his head to check if Stella was sleeping since she hadn't moved at all the whole time.

Stella yawned and stretched in his arms and gave him a soft smile. "Would you… I mean, you wanna stay? You know … I mean, without being forced to?"

Mac briefly hesitated. "You sure that Arkadios doesn't mind sharing the bed … and you?"

"Well, he didn't complain the last two nights… I would say he's getting used to you…" she smiled.

"Um… yeah, but …"

"You're jealous of a teddy bear! Now this is cute…" Stella chuckled. "You know what? I'm sure he won't mind sleeping on the couch tonight, if you feel better that way?"

"I'm not jealous! But maybe I feel … observed?" Mac grinned back. Stella just gave him a smile while taking his hand.

"You really have a tattoo?" he suddenly asked while following her to the bedroom.

Stella turned around and gave him a suggestive look.

"Why don't you find out yourself?"

The END


End file.
